THE WINTER PEOPLE
Author: Rebekah Purdy
Release Date: September 2, 2014
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Pages: 320
ISBN: 978-1622663682
An engrossing, complex, romantic fantasy perfect for fans of Kristin Cashore or Maggie Stiefvater, set in a wholly unique world.
Salome Montgomery fears winter—the cold, the snow, the ice, but most of all, the frozen pond she fell through as a child. Haunted by the voices and images of the strange beings that pulled her to safety, she hasn’t forgotten their warning to "stay away." For eleven years, she has avoided the winter woods, the pond, and the darkness that lurks nearby. But when failing health takes her grandparents to Arizona, she is left in charge of maintaining their estate. This includes the "special gifts" that must be left at the back of the property.
Salome discovers she’s a key player in a world she’s tried for years to avoid. At the center of this world is the strange and beautiful Nevin, who she finds trespassing on her family’s property. Cursed with dark secrets and knowledge of the creatures in the woods, his interactions with Salome take her life in a new direction. A direction where she’ll have to decide between her longtime crush Colton, who could cure her fear of winter. Or Nevin who, along with an appointed bodyguard, Gareth, protects her from the darkness that swirls in the snowy backdrop. An evil that, given the chance, will kill her.
Now on to the excerpt!
First of
all, I want to thank Jaime for having me on the blog today. She was one of the
first people to ever read this story and has been such a cheerleader for The
Winter People since Entangled Teen picked it up. One of our favorite characters
from the book is Gareth. So when Jaime asked if I’d write something from his
point of view, I immediately said yes. So this really short scene below is
written specifically for this blog post, from Gareth’s POV (and you won’t find
it anywhere else). This particular part takes place when Salome first
meets/sees Gareth in the coffee shop. Hope you enjoy! Thanks again, Jaime, for
allowing me to stop by and do a guest post ((HUGS)).
The bell above the door
in the coffee shop jingled. I lifted my gaze to see two girls walking in. Salome Montgomery. I’d never seen her
this close up before. But even so, I recognized her. Her long blond hair
cascaded passed her shoulder. Her arms were drawn tight against her chest like
a shield, as if she was trying to protect herself against something. As she
raised her hooded gray-blue eyes, a slow smile spread across my face.
We all had a part to
play. Today, I needed her to see me as dangerous. To get a sense of exactly
what stalked the woods around Starlynn Village. Of what lay hidden in the
wintry landscape. I took a step closer to the counter.
My coworker waited on
Salome’s friend, leaving Salome to me.
“And what can I get
you?”
Her glance shifted from
my face, to the tattoos on my arms. It was now or never. She needed to be aware
of her surroundings. The skin on my arms prickled and I watched her carefully,
seeing the color drain from her face.
She buried her head in
her hands, visibly shaken by the sight of my tats.
“Salome, hey are you
okay?” her friend asked.
“S—Sorry, I’ll have a
caramel cappuccino,” Salome said, lifting her head once more.
“Coming right up.” I
leaned closer to her. Fear seemed to emanate from her like perfume. Perhaps I’d
taken it too far.
“Gareth?” she said
aloud, reading my nametag.
“Yeah.” My name on her
lips caused goose bumps to break out along my arms. What the hell was wrong
with me? Her gaze seemed to undo me. I definitely didn’t need her affecting me
like this. I had a job to do and I couldn’t afford to let her get under my
skin, pretty face or no pretty face.
“That’s an interesting
name.” She stared at me.
She had no idea who I
was or what I was doing here. Which was probably for the best. While my
coworker Simeon and her friend exchanged numbers, I handed her a cappuccino and
a napkin.
“Try and take care of
yourself,” I said. My fingertips brushed hers and a strange jolt went through
me. I stiffened. Shit. The last thing I needed to do was lose focus of why I
was here.
“Um—thanks.” She gave an
awkward smile.
“I’ll see you around,” I
said.
“Maybe.”
But there was no maybe
about it. I would see her again. She
had no idea what was going on around her or the threat that lurked nearby. The
darkness that was about to be unleashed within the frozen woodland.
“I think I can see why
you’re keeping an eye on her.” Simeon’s gaze slid over Salome as she walked out
of Perky Joe’s.
My hand shot out and I
gripped him by his shirt. “I have my orders. And if you do anything to
interfere with her, so help me I’ll make you regret it.”
Simeon pulled free, his
lips turning up at the corners. “Just don’t forget what’s at stake here.”
“Like he’d let me forget.” I was well aware of
what I had to lose should I fail. My fist clenched at my side, the scent of
Salome still hung in the air like a deadly reminder that our clock was
ticking—slow, steady chimes, bringing us closer to the end.
Thanks for stopping by Rebekah and I loveeeee this scene!!
About Rebekah:
Rebekah was born and
raised in Michigan (just look for the mitten-shaped state on the map). She’s
lived there most of her life other than the few years she spent in the U.S.
Army. At which time she got a chance to experience MO, KS, SC, and CA.
She works full time for
the court system and in her free time she writes YA stories. Pretty much any
genre within the YA realm is game for her, but her favorites are fantasy, urban
fantasy, paranormal romance, thrillers, light sci-fi, and some time travel.
She also has a big
family–she like to considers them the modern day Brady Bunch. When her hubby
and her met and got married, he had 3 children from a previous marriage, she
had 2 and have 1 together. It’s a
lot of fun though.
And she can’t forget her
other family members–yep, they’ve got some pets: 4 dogs, 3
cats, and 1 turtle. Everyone in the family has one…she won’t bore you all
with their names (unless you really want to know). Okay, you talked her into
it! Jack, Pearl, Grr…(yes that’s her dog’s name), Callie, Shadow, Mooshoo,
Grouchy, and Sorbert. Other than writing some of her other hobbies include:
reading (mostly YA of course), singing, swimming, football, soccer, running,
camping, sledding, church, hanging with her kids, and traveling.
She belong to a fabulous
writing group called YA Fiction Fantatics (YAFF) and you guessed it they all
write YA!
REPPED by Jennifer Mishler and Frances Black of Literary
Counsel.
And that’s her in a big
‘ol nutshell.
Giveaway
Details:
2 Winter Emergency Kit. It will have a $10.00 Amazon gift card, coffee mug, hot cocoa, chapstick, flashlight, gloves and some signed bookmarks. US Only.
